Bruce P. Corrie, PhD, Emma Corrie, SPHR
Black workers in Minnesota, as early as the 1800s, have built the foundations of our economy. Community historians like Joel Brown, remind us how African Americans like Henry Bonga played important roles in the fur trade economy. So also did African American Ojibwe women like his sister Marguerite Bonga who worked in many roles in the fur trade economy. Like today, the many contributions of early African Americans like Marguerite Bonga have been largely ignored. For example, a monument to her husband, the first Swede in Minnesota, in downtown Saint Paul, does not mention his wife, Marguerite Bonga.
Today there are more than 176,000 Black workers in Minnesota, according to a recent report from DEED, 6.6 percent of the total workforce in Minnesota in 2021. According to the same report, Black workers accounted for almost 35 percent of the growth in new workers in Minnesota between 2010 and 2020 – a significant fact in the presence of a tight labor market and the rising presence of older workers in the workplace. (A parallel analysis on strategies to grow Black owned businesses can be found in the 2021 report of the Minneapolis Urban League – State of Black Minnesota 2021)
This report documents the economic contributions of Black workers to the Minnesotan economy. We use the ALANA Brain Trust IMPLAN economic model of Minnesota to estimate the economic impact of Black workers in Minnesota. IMPLAN models are used widely to assess the economic impact of policies and programs in terms of jobs, output and taxes. In this simulation we input the number of Black workers in each sector of the economy and the model then estimates the impact on output, jobs and taxes.
The ALANA Brain Trust economic simulation finds that Black workers, who make up 6.6 percent of the Minnesota workforce in 2021, help generate $58 billion in goods and services (as a point of reference, the Governors’ budget proposal for the biennium is $65 billion or the $50+ billion budget of the department of Health and Human Services). They also help support over 300,000 jobs and a tax base of $7.5 billion ( as a point of reference – the 2020 budget of the University of Minnesota was $4.2 billion). Black workers are a powerful and critical engine of economic growth in Minnesota.
Methodology
The IMPLAN economic model is used widely to assess the impact of policy changes, such as, what is the impact of an investment of $200 million investment on jobs, output and taxes.
Input-Output (I-O) modeling is based on the work of Nobel Prize winner Wassily Leontief. The foundational concept is that all industries, households, and government in the economy are connected through buy-sell relationships, therefore a given economic activity supports a ripple of additional economic activity throughout the economy.
https://support.implan.com/hc/en-us/articles/360038285254-How-IMPLAN-Works
IMPLAN has data on the Minnesota economy in an input-output model. Data on employment of Black workers by economic sector from the American Community Survey was integrated into the model which in turn provided estimates of the economic impact of these workers in terms of production of goods and services, jobs these activities supports and the impact on the tax base. Apart from the overall impact across economic sectors there are estimates of the impact for key sectors where there is a strong presence of Black workers.
Sector Impacts
Black workers play a critical role in many sectors of the Minnesotan economy: Health care and social assistance, manufacturing, transportation, education, retail and administrative, waste management and remediation.
Black workers are a visible presence in the health care and social services sectors. They make up 13 percent of the workforce in health care and social services and help produce $16 billion in goods and services and support over 112,000 jobs and a tax base of $2.3 billion. If these workers were not in Minnesota, the health care system will collapse.
Black workers play an important role in manufacturing, making up 5 percent of the workforce and helping produce $14 billion in output and supporting over 47,000 jobs and a tax base of $1.2 billion. With a significant portion of the manufacturing workers approaching retirement age, the importance of Black workers in this sector is very important.
Black workers make up 6 percent of the workers in education and help produce $1.4 billion in the education sectors, supporting 14,000 jobs and a tax base of $200 million.
In the retail sector, Black workers make up 6 percent of the workforce and help produce $2.9 billion in output, supporting more than 23,000 jobs and a tax base of over $500 million.
In the Administrative, waste management and remediation sectors, Black workers make up 12 percent of the workforce and help produce $2.9 billion in output and support over 24,000 jobs and a tax base of over $400 million.
Using the IMPLAN model of the Minnesotan economy we can see that Black workers make up 7 percent of the workers in the accommodation and food sector and help produce $2 billion in output, supporting over 19,000 jobs and a tax base of over $300 million.
Black workers make up 9 percent of workers in the Transportation and warehousing sectors and generate $2.3 billion in output, supporting over 14,000 jobs and over $300 million in taxes.
Finally, Black workers make up 2 percent of the workers in Construction and help generate almost a billion dollars in output, supporting over 5000 jobs and a tax base of $112 million.
These economic simulations underscore a very important and often overlooked fact – Black workers are critical for the Minnesotan economy, they help produce great value for Minnesota, overall and within sectors of the economy they work in. They also contribute individually, as well as through their work, to the tax base in Minnesota.
Minnesota has not fully recognized the value and assets of Black workers and has not adequately invested in them in spite of the fact that they help produce more than $50 billion in goods and services, support over a 300,000 jobs and help increase the tax base by over $7 billion. For example, during the Great Recession, Black unemployment was 22.5 percent, yet the Minnesota’s workforce system served only 4.4 percent of Black unemployed workers. (These estimates are derived from DEEDs reports on the various workforce development programs in 2015 and 2017, and estimates of the Black workforce in 2009 from DEED’s QWI Explorer)
Below are some areas where Minnesota can invest in our Black workers.
Respect and Professional Advancement at Work
Black workers need to feel seen, respected and valued at their workplace. Cultural intelligence in policies, programs and interactions, as well as, professional development, mentoring, employee resource groups and advancement opportunities are needed in the workplace. The Center for Economic Inclusion offers a framework for inclusion in the workplace.
Career Pathways into Good Jobs
We need to offer Black workers career pathways to good paying, benefit-paying, family-sustaining jobs. For example, Ramsey County offers a list of Gateway Occupations into these well paying jobs. Similarly the Governor’s recent budget proposal features the Drive to 5 Workforce Fund. At Twin Cities R!SE we find a 7 to 1 return on investment in career pathways to good jobs for those with the greatest barriers to employment.
Education and Skills
There is a need to close the racial disparity gaps in education. The latest DEED report documents that only around 18 percent of the native born Black population have a Bachelors degree or higher. We need to increase both these academic credentials as well as critical workforce credentials and certifications. One of the challenges of the formal E-12 and Higher Education systems is that the learning environment is not serving our Black youth adequately. This needs to change.
A simple economic simulation shows that Black total income would increase by $2 billion or $11,000 per worker if Black workers moved up their educational qualifications by one level, say from less than high school to a high school diploma or GED.
Youth Paid Work Internships and Apprenticeships
Finally we need to build the next generation of Black workers with paid work experience especially in the STEAMED occupations – Science, Technology Engineering, Arts, Math Energy, Environment and Digital sectors.
Minnesota needs to invest in its talented Black workforce. The ALANA Brain Trust economic simulations show that investments in the Black community will benefit all in Minnesota, through the increase in jobs and business opportunities as well as an increase in the tax base.
We dedicate this research to “Grandma” Marguerite Wilson who lived a rich life of over 100 years, most of it in the Rondo neighborhood. She embodied the creativity, kindness, faith and resilience of the human spirit.
